1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for quenching an arc in a gas flow circuit breaker and more particularly to a blast piston (puffer) circuit breaker, having contacts movable relative to each other, which form a permanent current contact system and an arc contact system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During operation of a circuit breaker, the permanent current contacts separate and the current then commutates to an arc current path across arc contacts, which subsequently separate and take over the interruption of the current.
The quenching capacity of such high voltage breakers is substantially dependent on the energy which is liberated by the arc in the quenching system during an interruption. This energy must be removed by the flowing quenching medium. The smaller the liberated energy, the shorter will be the current interruption. By shortening the duration of the arc and thereby reducing the converted energy, the quenching capacity of the breaker can be correspondingly increased. While an increase of the quenching capacity can also be obtained by increasing the contact velocity, this is possible only to a limited extent in a contact system for high voltage and large currents due to drive and mechanical requirements.